Guns for Hire - Script Twenty Three
June 2015 to January 2016 - Interlude
Alex Price
17/06/2015
Turning her back on Mariusz, Alex sparked up the S-MAX & headed East out of Night City not stopping until the fuel gauge reminded her it was time for breakfast. Stopping for coffee Alex considered her options, twenty minutes later she settled into the custom fitted saddle & headed for Reno.
23/06/2015
Alex finished hitching the trailered S-MAX to the back of the Winnebago & happy it was secured climbed into the truck & started her up, she couldn't help grinning at the vibration as the enormous V10 rumbled into life. Slipping on her shades & nodding farewell to the sales dipstick she'd just bought the van from she slipped the old style manusl change into first & let the monster roll out onto the highway ignoring the blare of horns & squeal of brakes as she cut up the slowly moving traffic & headed for New Mexico.
19/09/2015
Jessica Bei, free lance journalist, as she was now calling herself, leant forward, picked up her glass & surveyed the view, it really was magnificent, Alex had chosen to hold up at the Bottomless Lakes State Park simply because she liked the sound of it however she had to concede she couldn't have picked a nicer place to go to ground.
The only craw in her mind was that to date she'd not been able to pick up much of a trace on SCC's security guru, Netuno Anvaro, the file that she'd retrieved from the Australian Naval Archive & Resource Centre was pretty fucking definite, it clearly stated that Ensign Netuno Anvaro had been killed on active duty in 2001 whilst serving in Republic of Australia Naval Fleet in a skirmish with Indonesian Forces, there was even a picture of Sub Lieutenant Netuno in full military dress on the bridge of HMAS Coonawarra. Frustrated, Alex logged off the palm PC, all the file really confirmed was that the bastard calling himself Netuno Anvaro wasn't, so who the fuck was he.
11/10/2015
Despite her earlier frustrations Alex was moderately happy &, for the moment, financially comfortable, she'd decided to stay around the Bottomless Lakes for the winter & look for work come spring.
Vrasten Nordskov
19/06/2015
After his rude awaking it took Vrasten a couple of hours to even start to function, he hadn't got any idea what Skinpin had been on about & when he'd tried to call him back the phone was dead, dressing as best he could Vrasten limped out of his room & lurched his way down to the bar. Apart from Sundance nobody was about that he recognised, it didn't however take him long to establish that everybody had either split, itwas entirely possible that SCC's contract was up & running, nervously Vrasten hobbled back up stairs & started to pack.
20/06/2015
Unsure what or where to go Vrasten pegged a cab to the bus station & scanned the waiting room, he was fairly sure nobody had followed him but still feeling like shit he really couldn't be sure, not wanting to hang around he joined the ticket line & took the first available greyhound destined for New York, he figured that Zdenko Boulis, as that last of his false papers identified him as, could loose himself for a while in the big rotten apple until things cooled down.
13/08/2015
Vrasten wiped the condensation of the glass & peered out of the bed sit window into the street below before popping another tablet, the tick he'd developed in his left eye was driving him up the wall, for the life of him he couldn't work out what was causing it, all he knew was that he was taking more & more Dispredol to keep it at bay.
18/09/2015
He reread the third page column of the New York Times & then logged back on to the net via a Pay & Go mobile, his eye had been drawn to further reports on the Ebola outbreak in the Pastaza province of Ecuador, according to official reports it was suggested that whilst the specific source of the virus was yet unknown it appeared to be centered around the Puyo area. The recording of the spokeswoman for Ecuadorian relief agency told the cameras that there had been thousands of reported cases & that of the verifiable cases there had been a 85% mortality rate.
The report went on to say that the outbreak had been officially declared a medical disaster & all parties were being asked to stay well away from the affected zone, it was also noted that considerable support was being given by the various church agencies operating out of Shell Mera as well as SCC who had previously invested substantial capital in the area, all of which was hugely appreciated by the countries authorities.
18/09/2015
Mariusz Boronski
17/06/2015
Mariusz watched the dwindling tail light of Price's S-MAX disappear around the corner before walking back into the Forlorn Hope, Roxy & Kissy were still sat where he'd left them before the panic to try & locate the escaped lab rats, dropping onto the bench seat opposite them he let out a long sigh & calmly told them both that he really needed to head out of the city before morning, although this was half expected it hit Kissy particularly hard.
After throwing his kit in the hummer Mariusz returned & slipped a sizable roll of dollar bills across the table & repeated his promise that he would contact them as soon as he got where he was going.
18/06/2015
Heading North Mariusz pushed the hummer hard & reached Sacramento by mid afternoon the following day where he off loaded the truck for a tidy return.
Over the next couple of days he hitched his way up to Portland figuring this would remove him from any association with what had gone before. In Portland Mariusz stopped over for a couple of days ensuring that any one he met remembered him by the name of Vasiliev Bélanger from Calgary thus it was a few days later that Vasiliev bartered for & drove away in a serviceable pick up & headed for the Canadian border.
04/07/2015
Some 3000Km & a week or so later Mariusz, smiling, drove into Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, home.
11/07/2015
With surprising ease Mariusz settled back into the life style so familiar from his youth, there were a couple of awkward questions & a lot of tears, particularly from his mother, however he was welcomed back into the fold with open arms.
Good to his word as soon as Mariusz got a moment to himself he put a call into Kissy to let her know all was OK as well as to see if any one was asking questions in the Hope.
19/09/2015
After weeks of phone calls Mariusz had finally persuaded Roxy & Kissy to come North.
Oon September 19th Mariusz drove down to Saskatoon Airport & waited for their flight to land, an hour or so late it finally arrived & Mariusz waited nervously until they finally walked into the pick up zone escorted by Skinpin, grinning from ear to ear Skinpin threw his arms around Mariusz.
Mariusz spent the next couple of weeks showing Skinpin & the girls the delights Moose Jaw & the surrounding country whilst Ma Boronski did her best, despite their "close" relationship, to ensure that both the girls were made to feel like part of the family particularly when Kissy let slip that Mariusz was soon to be a father.
By the end of September Skinpin announced he'd have to get back to NC as there were things he needed to get on with, when Mariusz finally drove Skinpin back down to Saskatoon both Roxy & Kissy stayed put in Moose Jaw, Skinpin promised to keep in touch.
Skinpin
Skinpin dropped the phone back into his pocket but not before flicking the power off, he wasn't exactly overjoyed with the way things had panned out or with the way anybody had accounted for themselves, he'd thought they were a team but obviously he was wrong, still at least he'd warned Vrasten, maybe everybody would be OK in a few months, maybe not.
Contrary to what he'd told Vrasten to do Skinpin had no intention of skipping town or in fact the Hope, after all he had no where else to go, anyway's he'd already spoken with his long time friend & proprietor of the Forlorn Hope, John Freeman, & agreed to join the permanent team of ripperdoc's serving the Hope's clientele as well as a number of the merc units operating out of Night City, in return he got free bed & board & a place to disappear for a while & all the skunk he could smoke.
One afternoon in August, Dolarhyde, the Hope's own Mr. Fixit, had passed Skinpin a print out of an e-card sent care of the Forlorn Hope but marked for the attention of Vrasten Nordskov, Dolarhyde had remembered the name as being one of Skinpin's former associates, the senders details were hidden, Dolarhyde reckoned he'd run a trace & it originated from somewhere called Kaikoura in New Zealand, mystified Skinpin scanned the single line of text,
"Having a great time, don't think I'll be coming back, hope you're back on your feet & sis' isn't causing problems, Love Helen"
Laughing to himself Skinpin stuffed the paper in his pocket & wondered if it was time to start looking up where everybody else had got to , several spliffs later Skinpin was to burned to remember where his arse was never mind think about tracing Vrasten.
Late in September Skinpin got collared by Roxy asking him to accompany her & Kissy up North to where Mariusz was holed up, he'd pretty much suspected that Mariusz hadn't cut himself of blind, specially with Kissy carrying his kid, bowing low he'd said he'd be delighted to escort them.
Skinpin returned solo mid October telling anyone who asked that the girls were having so much fun seeing family that they'd decided to stay a bit longer.
Back in the fold Skinpin got back down to nurse maiding the Hope's battered & bruised & stitching up a guys guts.
Late in December Skinpin picked up news that maybe he thought the others would at least want to be aware off, after a bit of digging around & asking a few questions Skinpin decided that he really did need to get his shit together & after all, maybe if they all did meet up it wouldn't end in a bloodbath after all.
17/01/2016 - Wingers Bar, Spanish Fork, Salt lake City, Utah
Arriving before the others & accompanied by his current drinking buddy, T Bird, Skinpin began to wonder if this was really such a good idea after all, before he had chance to leave however Mariusz, Vrasten & Alex arrived.